Twisted Every Way
by scarletpudding
Summary: The Labyrinth is a greater force than Sarah could have ever possibly imagined. Trapped by the Labyrinth, Sarah is forced to listen to the story of its origin. Are Jareth and Sarah under the influence of something greater than themselves or can they change their own fates?
1. I

**I**

"_**He wished to be a hero… So naturally, I, the Labyrinth, gave him a monster to slay… Contrary to the Greeks' romantic beliefs, the circumstances behind the birth of the Minotaur were not arranged by the Greek gods. Nor were **_**I**_** build by a human craftsman. **_

_**I have always been. I am an intelligent, sentient, immortal being and I wield great power. I am blessed as well as burdened with the duty that befalls me: I am bound to fulfill the deepest and truest wishes of the miserable hearts. And it was a Heartwish that made me appear to the humans on the island of Crete, in the form of a great labyrinth of stone. **_

_**Theseus, a young prince at the time, was wishing with all his heart to be a hero and to be able to save his people from grave danger. Fate and I decided to help him prove himself by creating a monster for him to slay. A Minotaur.**_

_**The outcome was determined before Theseus sat a foot within my borders. The outcome was decided long before Theseus was even born. It was Fate and it was meant to happen all along.**_

_**The prince was given a red ball of yarn by the princess Ariadne. He tied it to the entrance of me and progressed through me. Despite the obvious willpower Theseus possessed, he was no match for me, Lady Sarah. I did not even care to resist his progress. I barely even cheated. **_

_**He unriddled me quite easily and made it to the center. Amongst the cold stonewalls, a desolate Minotaur bemoaned his creation and lonely existence. Theseus saw the Minotaur, but he did not see behind the gruesome façade of the monster.  
Like all the following runners he saw, but he did not **_**see**_**. **_

_**As he decapitated the Minotaur, Theseus shouted "You no longer have any power over my people!" **_

_**Your eyes widen, Lady Sarah, I knew it would not be long until the realization would hit you.**_

_**Theseus returned home to be admired as a strong hero. The dead Minotaur on the other hand… **_

_**One thing you must understand about being immortal and intelligent, Lady Sarah, is that one gets bored incredibly easy. Earlier on, I would have teased, taunted and cheated runners to get out with my aggressions, but even that became tiring and trivial after a couple of thousand years.**_

_**Human emotions are so predictable, you see.**_

_**But Fate and I had created a creature as desolate and lonely as I. To this day I still am not sure how he came to be as such – perhaps I possess a subconscious like you do, and thus created his character in my image unintentionally. He was originally meant to be a fearsome, gruesome beast. I felt a bond with this creature, so after he was slayed by Theseus I gave him a name and placed his soul in a humanoid form.**_

_**Please refrain from mentioning the traitor's name in this sacred place, dearest Sarah.**_

_**But yes, the man you knew as the Goblin King was the Minotaur. **_

_**He proved a faithful companion to ****me. Never before had I had such intelligent conversations. He was weak, but my ruthless teaching through many centuries had hardened him sufficiently – or so I thought.**_

_**Besides companionship, his tasks were to aid me in my duty of fulfilling wishes. It became a rather fruitful arrangement; Being an incorporeal being has its disadvantages and a humanoid beast may go places an old maze may not.**_

_**Heartwishes are rare. But when a Heartwish rings true, they generally are very demanding. Oftentimes he and I were forced to change our exteriors – but we did it gladly. Anything to break the monotonousness is highly appreciated. It's **_**precious **_**even.**_

_**Do not snare at me, my dear.  
He was right in one thing; you **_**are**_** a precious little thing.**_

_**Where was I?**_

_**Oh yes, Heartwishes are rare and few and – depending on the magnitude of the wish of course – often crave much time and effort. Yours were no different.**_

_**Please remain seated. I do not want to force you to stay still – but I will if required.**_

_**You see, Lady Sarah, it is said among humans that one ought to be careful about wishing, "because what one wish for might come true." **_

_**I made Jareth, but **_you_** made the Goblin King…**_"

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(A/N) I do not own "Labyrinth" or any of its characters.

Chapter 1 of 10


	2. II

**II**

"_**You were very young, when I first became aware of your existence, Sarah…**_

_**You were no more than six years old; A pretty, little, heartbroken mortal child with raven locks and a fondness for faery tales, which undoubtedly stemmed from your mother's Celtic roots. You were an example of the children of your generation, because even then you felt torn between your constantly disputing parents. **_

_**You found solace in your faery tale books, Sarah, even then.**_

_**Your parents had loved each other dearly once, but their overwhelming differences eventually tore them apart. With the sole warning of a note addressed to your father, your mother left her family and country behind for her handsome actor colleague and a career in England.**_

_**Although your father (and the magazines that reviewed your mother's latest play with Jeremy) had suspected the affair between them, no one would have thought beautiful, **_**kind**_** Linda Williams was capable of leaving her prepubescent daughter behind.**_

_**You were left behind, Sarah.**_

_**When you were six I knew you were a Heartwisher. Eventually you **_**would**_** wish, because all your hurt and grief had to be channeled into something else or you would break.**_

_**So, I made Jareth watch over you, to make sure you would make your wish. Hah, I see my mistakes clearly now. I should have steered clear of you and let Fate work on its own, but even then I was intrigued by you! I sensed your Celtic blood and felt the potent magic of your dreams coursing through you veins.**_

_**Unfortunately Jareth became intrigued by you as well, and began to watch you even when I did not make him. You are a rare and special being, Sarah. Like me. Like, the traitor, spying on us through his crystals as we speak, fancies himself to be. **_

_**That petty thing wouldn't exist if it were not for us.**_

_**I said you created the Goblin King, and you did.**_

_**You dreamt of a dashing fairy tale king, a romantic rebel – you dreamt of a powerful villain – you dreamt of an adventure in a faraway, magic land. And you dreamt of proving yourself like the heroine in your favorite book. "The Labyrinth"… How **_**fitting**_**. If I were by nature a distrustful entity I would suspect interference from that traitor. It can hardly be a coincidence. **_

_**But I digress. **_

_**You dreamt of childish wonders in an adult package. You wanted danger. Magical danger. **_

_**I gave you all of that. It was my gift to you.**_

_**I gave you **_**your dreams**_**, Sarah.**_

_**Wasn't that **_**generous **_**of me?**_

_**Oh, you are a delight, my dear Sarah.**_

_**You can squirm in your chair all you will, but you may not speak. Not yet, anyway.**_

_**I have a story to narrate, and it would not do for you to interrupt me.**_"

* * *

(A/N) More chappies due tomorrow. I do not own "Labyrinth" or any of its characters.

Chapter 2 of 10


	3. III

**_III_**

"**_You were a real challenge, Sarah, unlike Theseus and so many others before him._**

**_I granted all your wishes, but you were a fiery and unpredictable opponent. I had to foil you and trick you in all the ways I could: to delay you, to thwart you. _**

**_Even though the cause of my existence essentially is to grant the mortals' Heartwishes and lift the burden of misery from their hearts by letting them solve my web of their dreams and feel accomplished; I decided to make you the exception that proved the rule. Sometimes I am allowed to play for keeps._**

**_My… _****minion****_ was my representative in your dream world, of course, but I soon got the impression that he was conflicted in his orders. Or perhaps I was. When fulfilling wishes I sometimes forget where I start and he_****_ends. He carried out my will in your dream world, but at the same time he refused. He wanted you to leave, knowing that I wished to keep you, but he also wished you to stay, but at his side. He was your willing slave, but you did not seem to grasp that. _**

**_The many creatures you met were, of course, extensions of your psyche. Your greed, your loyalty, your foolhardiness. But you manipulated them to transform and to obey you, in order to achieve a greater goal._**

**_I tried to fight you, but you resisted my attempts. You were fiery and determined and you made your way to my center._**

**_I cannot say whether your success with solving me was entirely of your own doing or whether _****my minion ****_succeeded in making loopholes in my dream design for you. _**

**_It might have been your age that caused your win. You were on the cusp of womanhood, but you had the heart of a sad and abandoned child, who escaped into fantasy. You wanted to remain a child forever, but some part of you yearned after love and becoming a woman. You resisted my attempts to sway you with your prized childhood objects and you resisted him when he attempted to sway you with adult debauchery. You were too young and too old at the same time. _**

**_You are an extraordinary creation, Lady Sarah. For you, the trek within my walls was a journey to revel in – for you the purpose of your wish was the journey rather than the goal._**

**_Of course, you changed and matured underway and realized the importance of your half-sibling, but you still enjoyed the trek immensely. It was made for and by you, anyway, so why wouldn't you? _**

**_Or who knows. It might even have been your cruelty, which made you triumph. Ah ah ah, don't deny it Sarah. Although it would prove amusing to work you into a frenzy of violent denial or a state of self-righteous anger, it would work against my plans._**

**_I do not believe that you will forgive me for fastening you to the chair, my dear, but I did give you a fair warning. _****I can be cruel.**

**_You shiver. Is it because _****he****_ said that to you once?_**

**_I know what you wish for – what you desire, Sarah mine, and I can do anything you wish or please. He is – in a sense – an extension of me. Choose me._**

**_Agree fully to be mine, Sarah. Be in no doubt about it – I will force you into it, if you refuse, but I would prefer it greatly if you succumbed to me of your own free will._**

**_I want you to belong to me, to be _****within ****_me, to become _****a part of me. ****_We would be able to create wonderful worlds together. My powers, your imagination. With you at my side, eternity will be so much more entertaining._**

**_He_****_would, naturally, have to be disposed of, but you could effectively take his place and be my second-in-command. You would be able to perform _****magic, real magic!****_ Imagine what a wondrous life you would lead with me._**

**_Just think wha—_**

**_My dear, I do believe we have a guest. Please, remain seated. Tsk tsk, Sarah. You don't wish me to silence you as well as bind you, do you? No? Good._**

**_ Come out, come out wherever you are..._**"

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(A/N) I do not own "Labyrinth" or any of its characters.

Chapter 3 of 10


	4. IV

**IV**

**_I can sense you and your pathetic powers. _****You are no match for me****_, traitor._**

**_Your feeble magic and your fancy crystals will not help you, _****Jareth****_. I created you, I shaped you, I taught you everything you know. How could you possibly be able to win over me? _**

**_I know you. I made you._**

**_You are weak, you are nothing but a blank slate_****_that was filled with every new Heartwish._**

**_You are a creature doomed to fail! A creature born to be bested!_**

**_Stop now. _**

**_Why have you even turned against me? Because of your love for this woman? Do not fool yourself, she _****wished and commanded ****_you to love her. What you are feeling is not real._**

**_Sa-_****rah! ****_None of that nonsense now. "Love" him, you say?_**

**_Be honest with yourself Sarah._**

**_Are you choosing _****him****_ because he is the man of your dreams (even with the knowledge that you created him – his characteristics, his looks and his love for you) or is it because you have it in you to love this minotaur for who he is, a _****slave****_ of dreams?_**

**_I know you. I know your dreams._**

**_You are at heart a greedy child that was denied love and thus resorted to lash out at a defenseless baby. You are cruel. You knew of _****his ****_fascination with you, he laid his love before you and you trampled on it. Several times!_**

**_Oh, do not for a moment think that I am unaware of your dawdling aboveground, _****traitor****_. Watching her, spying on her, courting her._**

**_I know that you pined away for her, that you offered yourself on a plate for her when she turned old enough to understand your offer. Or rather, you offered her the _****Goblin King****_. What girl, after all, would be able to refuse the absolute man of her dreams twice?_**

**_But she refused you spectacularly – again. Sarah Williams is not an ordinary girl._**

**_She refused the passionate villain king, she refused the looks of her stepfather – really, Sarah, someday we must have a conversation about your morbid fascination with your mother's lover. Did you imagine that he would make you into an adult? That he would make you into your mother? – _**

**_Where were we? Oh yes, she refused her "dreams"._**

**_But I won't allow her refuse _****me****_ – I am more than you could have ever dreamt about._**

**_Even though you idolize him, he will never _****actually****_ be the man of your dreams. _**

**_Look, Sarah._**

**Would your Goblin King let himself be thrown against one of my walls, perhaps? Would he let himself be trapped against said  
wall with my vines? Would he ****_– Stop?_****_Why, my dear Sarah, should I want to do that? We are just getting to the good part_****.**

**_I can offer you so much more than this pitiful creature, Sarah. Look at him. Crumbled before us._**

**_Weak._**

**_Would your beloved Goblin King let himself be robbed of the power _****you granted him****_?_**

**_No._**

**_But Jareth, the soul of the minotaur at the center of the Labyrinth, would._**

**_Yes, Sarah you may rise and you may speak, since you asked so politely._**

**_I presume you have made your choice._**

**_Remember, I will coerce you, if your answer is not to my liking._**

**_Say your right words..._**"

"I wish for Jareth's freedom to be whatever he chooses, wherever he might choose to be it, independent of the Labyrinth.

"And _you_, you cruel Labyrinth and all that you are, have no power over neither Jareth nor me!"

**_…_**

**_You were supposed to be no match for me, Sarah. But you were. You _****are****_._**

**_You have conquered me._**

**_But... If I possess no power over you, I cannot very well transport you back aboveground._**

**_And you lost your _****certain powers ****_with words, when you made _****him ****_free_**

**_Either way you look at it, you have to stay here with me. Within me._**"

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(A/N) I will update again tomorrow. I do not own "Labyrinth" or any of its characters.

Chapter 4 of 10


	5. V

**V**

"**_Where Jareth is? You made it abundantly clear that he was independent from me and free to be _****wherever he chose to be****_. He did as you wished of him. As always. I cannot tell you where he is. I do not know. I "have no power over him", if you recall?_**

**_Incidentally, that _****was****_ a dirty trick you pulled - below you, one should think._**

**_As my minion pointed out once, you _****do ****_have a rather skewed understanding of fairness._**

**_I do not for one second believe that you truly love that _****thing****_ (or whatever he might be now thanks to you)._**

**_You are scared of me and self-serving. _**

**_Banging at my walls with your tiny fists will not help you to leave me, Sarah._**

**_Did I hit a nerve?_**

**_Although it did not go according to my plan, you are now, in fact, mine._**"

* * *

(A/N) I do not own "Labyrinth" or any of its characters.

Chapter 5 of 10

gery900: lol! I agree with you, the labyrinth totally is! Thanks for reviewing! :)

WarpedReflection: Don't worry, as of next chapter, we'll see the story from Sarah's POW.

Next chapter: Jareth and Sarah's relationship is revealed.


	6. 6

**6**

The Labyrinth had preserved the form of its latest runner's dreams. Said runner had spent the last few hours magically tied to a chair. Sarah Williams was 23 years old, on the verge of a nervous breakdown and trapped in a twisted version of her dreams to boot.

When the Goblin King had first tried to renew their acquaintance, she had refused him outright. At the time she was 17 and had plenty of normal issues – boys, parents, friends, parties – and hardly gave him a second thought. He was the villain. He stole her brother. Why should she bother to let him into her house and hear him out? She was the good guy, the heroine. She could not remember a single example from her many fantasy books, where the hero gave in to the villain after defeating him, just because he happened to seem repentant. So she refused him straight away.

He kept on watching her, but when she was 19 he became careless and stopped hiding from her view. She was aware that a snowy white owl was suspiciously punctual and spent several hours a day perched on a branch just outside her bedroom window. Naturally, being of a fiery disposition, Sarah confronted him. Or rather, when he persistently returned to his spot, even after she had thrown knick knacks after him, Sarah chose to yell at him. And to invite him in, in due course.

They conversed, they argued, they flirted. Sarah considered herself a grown up by then, and was slightly weary of the normal issues she had held so dear before. She had had experienced magic once and longed for more. The Goblin King was offering her magic and the taste of her dreams. While being like a dream himself.

Sarah did not give in easily. She was the heroine after all and if the villain loved her, he had to prove it.

They became friends first, then confidants and finally lovers. By then she was 21 years old.

He swept her off her feet with a whirlwind, supernatural romance. Everything was just like she dreamed it would be: perfect.

He was hot and cold, passionate and aloof, courteous and wicked, beautiful and alien, commanding, yet somehow submissive.

At times Sarah wondered what went on behind those stormy eyes of his. Even though he for the most of the time projected an incredibly confidence and sheer arrogance, sometimes his mask would slip or his eyes would burn with something, she perceived as apprehension.

"Are you still upset that I beat you?" she asked him one day in her 22 year. It was summer and they were lying in the grass in the park she used to act out "The Labyrinth" in.

"No," he said simply, although Sarah could hear the strain in his voice.

"Something's bothering you. Can't you tell me?" she asked, irritated. "Or do you simply refuse to?" her voice took on a hard edge.

He remained silent and looked at her with eyes clearly pleading for something.

"_I wish_ you would tell me," she sighed. He was still the Goblin King and she still had the Power of Words.

"You did not 'beat' _me_, per say. You solved the Labyrinth. You refused my offer and denied _me_ any powers over you. I'm not upset that you won: you were supposed to win and you did, despite the fact that the odds were against you." He closed his eyes and swallowed. Sarah never really understood him when he turned maudlin like this; the Goblin King in "The Labyrinth" certainly never acted like her lover did at times. "I'm proud of your accomplishment, in fact."

"Thanks… I guess," she said quietly, a small smile grazing her lips.

They always met in her world. Sarah missed her friends and longed for the magic of the labyrinth, which she journeyed through at 15, but he refused to take her there.

"Why won't you let me return to the labyrinth?" she asked him one night, as they were preparing to go to bed in her small apartment.

"It's changed, Sarah. It won't be like you remember it. It might look the same, but it is empty without you in it."

At the time she was flattered, since she had interpreted his words to be a compliment and his way of telling her that he was lonely without her.

Now, after having being disillusioned for several hours, she finally understood what he had tried to tell her. The Labyrinth said that it was fuelled by her imagination and that she had – subconsciously – created every creature within it: Hoggle, Ludo, Didymus and even the Goblin King. It was _literally_ empty without her. And it wanted her back.

She inwardly cursed her obtuseness. But to be fair, how could she possibly have imagined the truth?

Sarah continuously tried to contact Hoggle and her other friends through her mirror, but they never came. She finally decided that enough was enough – she would go to the labyrinth, no matter what the Goblin King had to say about the subject. Sarah had used her certain powers to transport herself to the labyrinth. _"I wish…" _

She had tried being noble and self-serving at the same time, when she wished for her lover's freedom. She _presumed_ that if the Labyrinth did not have any power over her, then she would be transported back home, just like when she said the same words to the Goblin King all those years ago.

Now, she was trapped in the company of an incorporeal megalomaniac, who masqueraded itself as a stonewalled colossus. She was in a hermetically closed room, the size of the throne room. Who knows, it might have been the throne room once, but now it was completely bare: no throne, no windows, no goblins and no king. The Labyrinth had led her here and then shifted the position of its walls in order to prevent her from leaving.

She felt weariness creep into her bones, rested her forehead against a cool stone wall and put her arms around herself. The Labyrinth had called her bluff and, now, she had nowhere to turn and no one to save her. She could not prevent the sobs from escaping her, and she cried like a child.

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(A/N) I do not own "Labyrinth" or any of its characters.

Chapter 6 of 10


	7. 7

**7**

**"I—I cannot recognize these powers. Who would ****_dare_**** to sneak into my realm, into my very being and spread their filthy magic here?"**

The voice resonated in Sarah's ears. It was rich, dark and powerful, but genderless. She was getting used to the notion of a voice in an empty room, but the insecurity and anger she heard in it, was not usual.

Her heart was beating violently in her chest.

A tangible tension left the room soon after the voice's outburst. Sarah credited the tension to the voice and found it safe to assume that the Labyrinth had left her alone, for the time being.

She tried prying some of the bricks in the sand colored walls free, but it proved hopeless. She gave up. Sarah Williams gave up and resigned herself to be saved for once in her life. Her life had taught her not to hope for too much, but she prayed that he was different from her parents. That he would show up, that he would care. That he would love her.

She dosed off at one point, but she woke up with a start as the room began to shake. The wall, she was supporting herself against, especially so.

**"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," **the voice said, but it was not directed at her.

Sarah leapt to her feet and went to the middle of the room. Clearly someone was trying to ram the wall in from the outside. And it caved.

Bricks were tossed around the room and chips from them floated in the air, supported by magic.

The figure that was approaching her quickly and grabbing her wrist was not the Goblin King. The man who came to her side was dark haired and had a completely different face. She was seconds away from screaming until she saw the familiar eyes staring down a thin nose in an oval face. Mismatched eyes.

"Jareth," she breathed, stunned, while looking him over.

"The one and only," he answered and tightened his hold on her. She was relieved to notice that his voice was unchanged too.

She was about to bombard him with questions, but remained quiet, as she felt tension seep into the room once more.

"You gave me _my_ freedom. I'm giving you yours," he whispered.

Sarah straightened her back and felt her confidence in herself grow, as she stood by Jareth's side.

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(A/N) I do not own "Labyrinth" or any of its characters.

Chapter 7 of 10


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